Revealing analysis of national trends and local news you won't find in Miami's mainstream media. Dedicated to ethical government, saving tax dollars and a healthy environment. We aim to TRY to break the chokehold of Miami's developers and lobbyists on local government and the public commons. We offer our forum to that end.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

How much cancer could have been stopped by regulations against toxics we could have imposed but didn't, because of the power of polluters? ... by gimleteye

The power of dis-proving a negative has confounded critics of regulatory failure for decades, while the American public blithely ignored the application of science and technology to assess the causes of cancer through the proliferation of man-made chemicals in the environment.

Concurrently, well paid lobbyists and lawyers have successfully throttled government exploration of risk to the most vulnerable forms of life. Radical right wing extremists succeeded in defining a woman's right to choice on the point of abortion while utterly failing to account for real, true damage to fetuses from environmental causes that could have been regulated but weren't, because of the dominant American economic model: socialize risk, privatize profit.

In retirement, a former chief scientist for the South Florida Water Management District, Larry E. Fink, has been speaking out on this and other subversive measures adopted by government in favor of obscuring the well-laid plans and profits of the state's largest polluters.

Here is what Mr. Fink published on a list-serve today, which we re-publish in the hope it is widely read:

Over my 30+ years of professional career, I have advocated for routine sampling and analyses of human tissues to validate exposure models and assumptions and to correlate adverse health outcomes with the concentrations of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs) in various organs and tissues based on sound epidemiological study designs. Non-invasive tissues of reproductive relevance for the female include menstrual blood, post-partum umbilical cord blood, and breast milk, and for males, semen. Hair can also be sampled, as it accumulates both inorganic and organic contaminants with an affinity for protein from the blood supply with which the hair follicle is in contact. Since hair grows at a relatively constant rate, it captures information about instantaneous and cumulative exposures over
time.

If implemented, this National Epidemiological Study would have severely impacted the various industries that manufacture, use, or dispose of these PBTs. They would then have been highly motivated to find substitutes or advanced treatment technologies,
because that would have given them a competitive advantage over their less clever peers. Instead, they invested their efforts in undermining environmental regulations, putting political hacks on key regulatory bodies, and industry hacks on key advisory committees. Concurrently they attacked scientists who conducted such studies, including Florida State University's Ralph Dougherty, because such work is a threat to their profitable way of life. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810312&id=B4kzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oSMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1510,3897648 ; http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es1013664;

Now, despite 30 years of such machinations, a new study by reputable scientists demonstrates a correlation between the incidence of reproductive failure and the concentrations of certain PBTs in blood or semen. http://www.emagazine.com/daily-news/chemical-exposures-delaying-pregnancy/ Perhaps these body burdens also account for the roughly one-in-three chance of contracting any kind of cancer during a lifetime, of which about one-third has been attributed to environmental exposure to
carcinogens and their promoters in the home, at work, and from the environment. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes; http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/19956

So rise up in righteous anger for having your rights to life and to reproduce compromised by industry's provielge to use the environment to dilute and treat its wastes. Renegotiate your social contract to restore the value of your life, health, and peace of mind. Otherwise, it's business as usual, and you and your children, and your grandchildren are expendable for the greater good, which for the private sector is generally measured in net profit, not the net health or well being of consumers, workers, children, veterans, or retirees. To understand why it is not personal, its just business, see the classic boardroom scene form the movie "Network," because their world is increasingly ours. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mggkGeDX6lg

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

With respect to one statement in your postcard: a "woman's right to choose" has become such an accepted part of the politically correct dialogue, no one even questions it any more. This type of liberal dogma has reduced the decision to terminate a human pregnancy akin to deciding whether or not to have a skin tag removed. Sad.

Quotes hall of fame - worth another look:

Jonathon Dunlop of Australia about the Miami Airport:"This is the most disorganized shambles of an airport that exists on this earth.''April 01, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment on Post__________________________________On "Colony Collapse Disorder":Anonymous said...I say lets wait till the last tree is going to be cut down, the last bit of oil used, the last lowland coastal areas flooded before we make any rash decisions that might effect the economy.April 21, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On Bee “Colony Collapse Disorder” being blamed on cell phones:Anonymous said...Hmmm. What are bees doing with cell phones, anyhow?April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On South Florida Water Supply:Ron Littlepage said...Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment Post_________________________________Lesley Blackner said:In Florida, the sad reality is that government exists to serve the development machine, not the citizenry. That's why it's proper to say that in Florida we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer.April 22, 2007 Eye on Miami Post_________________________________On City of Miami and Miami Dade County giving $1,000,000 each to Jorge Perez’s Related Group (The Group's 2005 revenues were $3.25 billion.):"It makes as much sense as me donating half my paycheck to Warren Buffett.”May 6, 2007 Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menendez_________________________________On the FCAT Test:"'Florida is a serial mis-user of test scores.''Bob Schaeffer, director for Massachusetts-based FairTest.May 25, 2007 Miami Herald_________________________________Clifford Schulman (Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist):"This is the first time in 33 years that any one has accused me of fraud." June 28, 2007 Miami HeraldI say: hmm.__________________________________Max Rameau, Homeless Activist:"I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust, but the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.'' July 28, 2007 Miami Herald__________________________________"After years of mismanagement under a board of political appointees and neighborhood activists, Miami-Dade County administrators have proposed a new way to run the troubled empowerment zone program. The plan: Bring in new political appointees and neighborhood activists."November 6, 2007 Miami Herald: Reporter Scott Hiaasen______________________________________"Saying "Greater Everglades" and "Northern Everglades" is not saying Everglades -- other places are deserving of being protected too, but there is only one Everglades. The main thing is to keep the 'Main Thing' the main thing -- which, lately, has not been the main thing." Bob Mooney - on Listserve "Everglades Commons"________________________________________"Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption."Carl Hiaasen - March 16, 2008 Miami Herald_______________________________________On the Charter Review: "Commissioners want us to vote on their own pet changes, ideas the review team explicitly rejected. And, they're throwing their blatantly self-serving ballot questions at us at the same time. What a slap in the face to the charter review team — and to all of us!" Michael Lewis of Miami Today - April 10, 2008______________________________________On the Miami Dade County Commission:''Unfortunately, this is a commission that would build a cyanide factory next to a playground if you hired the right 12 lobbyists,'' Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi - May 14, 2008______________________________________"The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities." President Barack Obama in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009______________________________________"So."Dick Cheney's response when told that two thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. - Time Magazine 2008______________________________________"It seems like a bad idea can always find a home in the Florida Legislature." - Howard Simon - Executive Director of Florida ACLU - March 24, 2010

______________________________________Complete this sentence: South Florida really needs a..."Regional plan for controlled growth (before it becomes a concrete jungle similar to Houston), and a completely new set of elected officials that make decisions based on what's good for the future of South Florida instead of what's good for their wallets. - Jack McCabe, Real Estate expert who predicted the housing boom's end. - August 29, 2011 Miami Herald